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In an exclusive interview, Russell Crowe talks to Peter FitzSimons about his passion for Souths
and the All Blacks.
But let's cut to the chase, Russell Crowe, as we sit on the balcony of your Woolloomooloo apartment, with the lights of the harbour twinkling to our right, and the soaring skyscrapers of the CBD right there in the palm of our hand in front of us. If, right now, you had to make a choice between getting an Oscar next year for your new film, Robin Hood, or having the club you part-own, Souths, win the NRL premiership this year, which would it be?
The response is immediate, as is the twinkle. ''I've already got an Oscar ''
And so he has, not to mention three nominations. If the implication of that answer, however, is that Souths winning the premiership is now the towering ambition of his life, he is equally quick to correct it. It's almost as if he has to rein in his passion.
''It is not about me,'' he says. ''The groove is their groove, the players. I help build a platform for a group of young men to perform on the football field at the highest possible level they're able to. At that point, anything they achieve is about what they want to achieve. It is not a personal ambition. I have no control about that.''
Still, there must have been times in recent seasons when you have looked at the whole thing and thought, 'What the hell am I doing here? Why did I take this on?'
Crowe gives something of a deaths-head grin in reply: ''That's a recurring thing that definitely comes up a number of times in a year. Because it is a very complex thing. And if you want something done to a certain level, you can only delegate a certain amount. You have still got to go and get your hands dirty. You don't have to do that all the time, but you do have to step in once a year and recalibrate and then step back and get out of everybody's way.''
Again, there is a way Crowe recounts this whereby one has the impression that the actor constantly has to remind himself to get out of the way of the professionals, and yet he still comes across as one who is well satisfied with the exercise.
''Push my button about South Sydney and I'll tell you a few things about South Sydney,'' he laughs. ''Put 20 cents in the slot and I'll sing all night.''
All right, here's 20 cents, Russell. What is it about Souths that drives you?
''It started in the late '60s when I was four years old,'' he recounts. ''My Dad had a muffler shop in Beaconsfield, the heart of Souths territory, in the last of the golden age of Souths, where the streets were decked in red and green week in, week out. Now, my Dad was a St George supporter and would talk to my brother and I about St George, and they just thought I would come along - a mistake I won't make with my boys - but he had a workmate, a Chinese Australian bloke, who would always talk to me about Souths. So by five years old, I'm a committed Souths supporter, and so from then on we were a fractured family that only came together when the All Blacks were playing ''
That passion for Souths remained with him through all of his incarnations, from nascent rock singer in New Zealand to starving busker in Sydney; from struggling actor to deeply successful actor, to internationally renowned acting icon and right up to the point where, in 2006, in the course of an interview, Channel Nine's Danny Weidler suggested to him that if he felt that passionate about it, he may as well buy it to save it, and Crowe thoughtfully replied he might do just that.
Next thing he knew, he and Peter Holmes a Court had laid out millions of dollars and taken control of the most famous club in the league. He went into it with his eyes wide open.
''[I said to Peter from the first], 'There is no joy in this - this is not something we should be doing'. Because regardless of whether it is successful or not, it is not something that it is going to be attributed to you or I - and if it is, we have done it the wrong way.''
Another 20 cents for your trouble. Is it working? ''It would be fair to say that in terms of money outlay, we're still a long way behind. And yet the core business last year made a profit. There are other costs outside that core which still apply, because I like things done a certain way. But to go from a situation where the club is losing a couple of million dollars, year in, year out, to a situation where what we pay is what we earn [is great.] The core business is not dragging money from me.''
Interestingly, however, he draws a clear line between ''business'' off the field, and how he approaches the Souths players. They are not ''employees'' producing a ''product'' that can be sold to the ''consumers''.
First and foremost he wants it to be ''sport'', as that is what is in Crowe's blood - and not just because he grew up very tightly as the cousin of two of the most distinguished New Zealand cricketers of the modern generation, Martin and Jeff Crowe. He was also a good rugby union five-eighth at his New Zealand school; good enough that the famed All Black captain D.J Graham once said to him that he had ''a good rugby brain'', a comment he treasures. From the first, thus, Crowe has had a personal touchstone belief - drawing on his own long experience both in sport and in acting.
''If it is not about passion,'' he says, ''then what is it about? It has to be about passion when you get out on that field. It has to be about that total focus of mind and body That goes with pretty much anything I do in my life. It has to be self-perpetuating. It can't just be about what I do that makes it work. You bring together people that share a common ambition, and a common work ethic - Shane Richardson, Errol Alcott, John Lang - all the way through the playing squad there's a lot of thought that goes into this team. And you step back, and look at it on paper, that is a very good-looking rugby league team.''
Sometimes, true, his own passion has spilled over into moments in which he has appeared vainglorious. Perhaps his most famous public moment with Souths came last year when the Rabbitohs were playing the Roosters and getting on top of them. The cameras flashed upon Crowe in the stands, just as he was mimicking a Roman emperor, giving the thumbs down signal to his player gladiators - as in ''put them to death''.
Now, Russell, did you come to regret that bit of footage, given how often it has played since, particularly in times when Souths haven't been going well?
''No,'' Crowe says firmly. ''I regretted it the very minute I did it. There was still 56 minutes to go in the match, and I was very fearful that karma was going to come back and kick me in the arse, as the Roosters came back strongly. Fortunately, we held on.''
There is also the lovely yarn about the opening day's shoot of Gladiator, when Crowe met the great actor Sir Richard Harris for the first time. Now Harris, who played the emperor Marcus Aurelius in the film, was a particular Irishman, and once famously said: ''I'll tell you this: two Golden Globes, one Grammy, five Grammy nominations, two American Academy Award nominations, two British Academy Award nominations, one Cannes Film Festival award, four gold records, one platinum record and so on. I am also a multimillionaire. And you know what? I'd give it all up tomorrow, the whole lot, for one Irish rugby cap. Just one.''
Crowe takes up the story from there. ''So I walk into this tent, and he's sitting on this chair, and he says: 'Crowe, I hear that you were born in New Zealand, but you choose to live in Australia. Is that correct?' 'That is right,' I say. And Richard continues: 'So, we can talk in hushed and respectful tones about the All Blacks, and I can yell abuse at you about the Wallabies! You're a good night out in one man, Crowe. I think I'm going to like you.' That was the first thing he ever said to me.''
They remained firm friends until the day Sir Richard died.
One last question though, Russell, and you can have this one for free. Who do you support these days, the Wallabies or the All Blacks?
''I follow the All Blacks. That's the one residual New Zealand thing that I have. In any other sport, it's whoever wears the green and gold. Watching the All Blacks, though, represent late nights sitting up with my father. That black jersey that haka it's a primal thing.''
A primal man.
And very good for sport.
pfitzsimons@smh.com.au
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/oscar-russ-would-prefer-nrl-title-20100409-ryon.html
But let's cut to the chase, Russell Crowe, as we sit on the balcony of your Woolloomooloo apartment, with the lights of the harbour twinkling to our right, and the soaring skyscrapers of the CBD right there in the palm of our hand in front of us. If, right now, you had to make a choice between getting an Oscar next year for your new film, Robin Hood, or having the club you part-own, Souths, win the NRL premiership this year, which would it be?
The response is immediate, as is the twinkle. ''I've already got an Oscar ''
And so he has, not to mention three nominations. If the implication of that answer, however, is that Souths winning the premiership is now the towering ambition of his life, he is equally quick to correct it. It's almost as if he has to rein in his passion.
''It is not about me,'' he says. ''The groove is their groove, the players. I help build a platform for a group of young men to perform on the football field at the highest possible level they're able to. At that point, anything they achieve is about what they want to achieve. It is not a personal ambition. I have no control about that.''
Still, there must have been times in recent seasons when you have looked at the whole thing and thought, 'What the hell am I doing here? Why did I take this on?'
Crowe gives something of a deaths-head grin in reply: ''That's a recurring thing that definitely comes up a number of times in a year. Because it is a very complex thing. And if you want something done to a certain level, you can only delegate a certain amount. You have still got to go and get your hands dirty. You don't have to do that all the time, but you do have to step in once a year and recalibrate and then step back and get out of everybody's way.''
Again, there is a way Crowe recounts this whereby one has the impression that the actor constantly has to remind himself to get out of the way of the professionals, and yet he still comes across as one who is well satisfied with the exercise.
''Push my button about South Sydney and I'll tell you a few things about South Sydney,'' he laughs. ''Put 20 cents in the slot and I'll sing all night.''
All right, here's 20 cents, Russell. What is it about Souths that drives you?
''It started in the late '60s when I was four years old,'' he recounts. ''My Dad had a muffler shop in Beaconsfield, the heart of Souths territory, in the last of the golden age of Souths, where the streets were decked in red and green week in, week out. Now, my Dad was a St George supporter and would talk to my brother and I about St George, and they just thought I would come along - a mistake I won't make with my boys - but he had a workmate, a Chinese Australian bloke, who would always talk to me about Souths. So by five years old, I'm a committed Souths supporter, and so from then on we were a fractured family that only came together when the All Blacks were playing ''
That passion for Souths remained with him through all of his incarnations, from nascent rock singer in New Zealand to starving busker in Sydney; from struggling actor to deeply successful actor, to internationally renowned acting icon and right up to the point where, in 2006, in the course of an interview, Channel Nine's Danny Weidler suggested to him that if he felt that passionate about it, he may as well buy it to save it, and Crowe thoughtfully replied he might do just that.
Next thing he knew, he and Peter Holmes a Court had laid out millions of dollars and taken control of the most famous club in the league. He went into it with his eyes wide open.
''[I said to Peter from the first], 'There is no joy in this - this is not something we should be doing'. Because regardless of whether it is successful or not, it is not something that it is going to be attributed to you or I - and if it is, we have done it the wrong way.''
Another 20 cents for your trouble. Is it working? ''It would be fair to say that in terms of money outlay, we're still a long way behind. And yet the core business last year made a profit. There are other costs outside that core which still apply, because I like things done a certain way. But to go from a situation where the club is losing a couple of million dollars, year in, year out, to a situation where what we pay is what we earn [is great.] The core business is not dragging money from me.''
Interestingly, however, he draws a clear line between ''business'' off the field, and how he approaches the Souths players. They are not ''employees'' producing a ''product'' that can be sold to the ''consumers''.
First and foremost he wants it to be ''sport'', as that is what is in Crowe's blood - and not just because he grew up very tightly as the cousin of two of the most distinguished New Zealand cricketers of the modern generation, Martin and Jeff Crowe. He was also a good rugby union five-eighth at his New Zealand school; good enough that the famed All Black captain D.J Graham once said to him that he had ''a good rugby brain'', a comment he treasures. From the first, thus, Crowe has had a personal touchstone belief - drawing on his own long experience both in sport and in acting.
''If it is not about passion,'' he says, ''then what is it about? It has to be about passion when you get out on that field. It has to be about that total focus of mind and body That goes with pretty much anything I do in my life. It has to be self-perpetuating. It can't just be about what I do that makes it work. You bring together people that share a common ambition, and a common work ethic - Shane Richardson, Errol Alcott, John Lang - all the way through the playing squad there's a lot of thought that goes into this team. And you step back, and look at it on paper, that is a very good-looking rugby league team.''
Sometimes, true, his own passion has spilled over into moments in which he has appeared vainglorious. Perhaps his most famous public moment with Souths came last year when the Rabbitohs were playing the Roosters and getting on top of them. The cameras flashed upon Crowe in the stands, just as he was mimicking a Roman emperor, giving the thumbs down signal to his player gladiators - as in ''put them to death''.
Now, Russell, did you come to regret that bit of footage, given how often it has played since, particularly in times when Souths haven't been going well?
''No,'' Crowe says firmly. ''I regretted it the very minute I did it. There was still 56 minutes to go in the match, and I was very fearful that karma was going to come back and kick me in the arse, as the Roosters came back strongly. Fortunately, we held on.''
There is also the lovely yarn about the opening day's shoot of Gladiator, when Crowe met the great actor Sir Richard Harris for the first time. Now Harris, who played the emperor Marcus Aurelius in the film, was a particular Irishman, and once famously said: ''I'll tell you this: two Golden Globes, one Grammy, five Grammy nominations, two American Academy Award nominations, two British Academy Award nominations, one Cannes Film Festival award, four gold records, one platinum record and so on. I am also a multimillionaire. And you know what? I'd give it all up tomorrow, the whole lot, for one Irish rugby cap. Just one.''
Crowe takes up the story from there. ''So I walk into this tent, and he's sitting on this chair, and he says: 'Crowe, I hear that you were born in New Zealand, but you choose to live in Australia. Is that correct?' 'That is right,' I say. And Richard continues: 'So, we can talk in hushed and respectful tones about the All Blacks, and I can yell abuse at you about the Wallabies! You're a good night out in one man, Crowe. I think I'm going to like you.' That was the first thing he ever said to me.''
They remained firm friends until the day Sir Richard died.
One last question though, Russell, and you can have this one for free. Who do you support these days, the Wallabies or the All Blacks?
''I follow the All Blacks. That's the one residual New Zealand thing that I have. In any other sport, it's whoever wears the green and gold. Watching the All Blacks, though, represent late nights sitting up with my father. That black jersey that haka it's a primal thing.''
A primal man.
And very good for sport.
pfitzsimons@smh.com.au
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/oscar-russ-would-prefer-nrl-title-20100409-ryon.html
